By Stephanie Murray | Arizona Republic
ELOY – Rep. Greg Stanton said Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials broke the law when they barred him from visiting the Eloy Detention Center.
It’s the second time this month that ICE officials have blocked an Arizona lawmaker from full access to the detention center, which is an hour south of Phoenix.
“I wanted to provide that oversight and we were denied. I’m not surprised, and we’re certainly going to be challenging it,” Stanton, D-Arizona, said July 25 in an interview outside the detention center.
Days before Stanton was turned away at Eloy, ICE denied Rep. Yassamin Ansari’s request to visit with three sick constituents at the same detention center on July 19.
Members of Congress can make unannounced visits to ICE detention centers under a federal law that former President Joe Biden signed last year. But across the country, lawmakers and ICE officials are battling over access to those facilities during President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown and mass deportation agenda.
"It's illegal to deny a member of Congress the ability to come in and provide oversight over the facility," Stanton said. "When federal law enforcement ignores the law, every American should be concerned."
The Department of Homeland Security has sought to put stricter rules on visits during the new Trump era, telling lawmakers that they should provide a week’s notice before conducting an oversight visit or seek expedited approval from Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.
Assistant Homeland Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a written statement that the rules are “to prevent interference with the President’s Article II authority to oversee executive department functions.”
That’s led to a political tug-of-war between Democratic lawmakers and immigration officials in the parking lots and lobbies of ICE detention centers across the United States.
Rep. Jason Crow, D-Colorado, said he was turned away from an ICE detention center in Aurora, Colorado on July 20. A group of Illinois Democrats were denied entry to a processing center in their state on June 18. The mayor of Newark, New Jersey, was arrested during a fracas outside an ICE detention center in his city, where he had tried to join members of Congress on an oversight tour of the facility. Rep. LaMonica McIver, D-New Jersey, was indicted for allegedly “forcibly impeding and interfering with federal officers” during the Newark incident, the Justice Department said.
“ICE law enforcement has seen a surge in assaults of 830%, as well as disruptions and obstructions to enforcement, including by politicians themselves,” said McLaughlin, whose department oversees ICE.
Though Stanton’s visit was more peaceful than the Newark scuffle, the tension between federal law and Trump administration policy was on display in Eloy on July 25.
Stanton said he visited the detention center to conduct oversight, pointing to the 2024 law which allowed him to do so. He made the visit at the request of Aldo Urquiza, the husband of Arizona restaurant owner Kelly Yu, who has been detained for nearly 60 days.
Stanton entered the detention center with several staffers and an Arizona Republic reporter shortly after 10 a.m. A sign outside the facility read “HEROES WORK HERE” atop an American flag background.
He crossed through two blue doors protected by barbed wire and a “stun fence,” which deters people with an electric shock.
The Eloy Detention Center is operated by CoreCivic, a for-profit prison company based in Tennessee under a contract with ICE. Ansari, D-Arizona, who conducted an oversight visit in May, accused the facility of operating under “sickening” conditions. Ryan Gustin, CoreCivic's senior public affairs director, said the company takes "seriously our obligation to adhere to all applicable federal detention standards."
The facility is considered one of the deadliest in the nation, according to the advocacy group Detention Watch Network.
In the lobby, Stanton filled out an entry form and told Eloy staff he was there to conduct oversight under Public Law 118-47. The trip marked Stanton’s first visit to the Eloy Detention Center, though he has previously visited ICE detention centers in Nogales and El Paso, Texas.
Stanton, his staff and the Republic reporter were not allowed to proceed to security screening at the facility.
An ICE representative in a red polo shirt came to the lobby and informed Stanton that all tours should be arranged through the ICE Office of Congressional Relations.
Stanton presented the officer with a printed copy of the law.
“We passed this law specifically so a member of Congress can do oversight at a facility like this,” Stanton said. “This law does not apply to this facility?”
The ICE agent reiterated that the request should go through the congressional relations office. He gave Stanton an email address and phone number to contact.
Visitors are not allowed to bring cell phones inside Eloy, so Stanton asked to use the detention center’s phone to call the number. The ICE agent declined, saying phone service is spotty inside the facility and Stanton could try calling from the parking lot.
Stanton also asked to speak with a lawyer for the detention center, but the ICE agent said counsel was not on site.
Stanton went to the parking lot and spoke on the phone to an ICE director who said he would follow the Homeland Security directive and not allow Stanton to enter the facility. Stanton then tried calling a DHS office that handles congressional affairs, but said “nobody answered the phone.”
Later in the day, Stanton held a Phoenix news conference with Urquiza. The pair spoke about Yu, who owns Kawaii Sushi and Asian Cuisine in Peoria and Glendale.
Yu fled China’s one-child policy and came to Arizona when she was pregnant 21 years ago. Her request for asylum was denied and she faces deportation to China.
Yu “has no legal pathways to remain in the U.S.,” said McLaughlin, the assistant Homeland Security secretary. Yu has been detained at the Eloy Detention Center since late May.
“My wife is not a threat to anyone. She’s a loving spouse and a valued member of our family,” Urquiza said.
Stanton said Yu is a valued member of the community and that he supports legislation that would give her a pathway to citizenship. He plans to file a formal request with Homeland Security to conduct oversight at Eloy and visit with her.
“My job was to provide oversight, the opportunity to look at the facility overall and to speak to her and find out whether or not she’s being treated appropriately inside this detention facility. I was denied that ability,” Stanton said.